Gulliver's capture by the Lilliputians

Gulliver's capture by the Lilliputians is the foundational event of the first voyage, in which the shipwrecked English surgeon Lemuel Gulliver awakens to find himself bound by a tiny, technologically sophisticated people who treat him as a giant prisoner, establishing the inverted power dynamics and satirical framework of the entire Lilliputian adventure.

Shipwreck and Discovery

After the "Antelope" is wrecked on a rock during a violent storm on November 5, 1699, Gulliver alone among the six who escaped in a boat manages to swim ashore, pushed forward by wind and tide. Exhausted, he drinks half a pint of brandy, lies down on short, soft grass, and sleeps for about nine hours. When he awakens at daylight, he finds himself unable to stir: his arms and legs are strongly fastened to the ground on each side, his long, thick hair is tied down, and slender ligatures cross his body from his armpits to his thighs. He can only look upward as the sun grows hot and offends his eyes.

First Contact and Hostilities

Hearing a confused noise, Gulliver feels something alive moving on his left leg, advancing gently over his breast toward his chin. Bending his eyes downward, he perceives a human creature not six inches high, with a bow and arrow in his hands and a quiver at his back. At least forty more of the same kind follow. In utter astonishment, Gulliver roars so loudly that they all run back in fright; some are hurt by leaping from his sides onto the ground. They soon return, and one who ventures close enough to see his face cries out in a shrill but distinct voice, "Hekinah degul!"—words Gulliver does not yet understand. Struggling to get loose, he breaks the strings fastening his left arm and loosens the cords tying his hair, but the creatures run off a second time. A great shout in a very shrill accent follows, and one cries "Tolgo phonac"; instantly, above a hundred arrows are discharged on his left hand, pricking him like so many needles, while another flight falls on his body and face. He groans with grief and pain, and when he strives again to get loose, they discharge a larger volley and attempt to stick him with spears, though his buff jerkin protects him. Prudently, he decides to lie still until night, when his already loose left hand would allow him to free himself.

Negotiation and Submission

Fortune disposes otherwise. When the people observe Gulliver is quiet, they discharge no more arrows. About four yards from his right ear, he hears a knocking for above an hour, like people at work. Turning his head as far as the pegs and strings permit, he sees a stage erected about a foot and a half from the ground, capable of holding four inhabitants, with two or three ladders to mount it. From this stage, one who seems a person of quality makes a long speech, of which Gulliver understands not a syllable. Before the oration, the principal person cries out three times, "Langro debul san"; immediately about fifty inhabitants cut the strings fastening the left side of his head, giving him liberty to turn it to the right. The speaker appears of middle age, taller than any of the other three who attend him, and acts every part of an orator, with many periods of threatenings, promises, pity, and kindness. Gulliver answers in a few words in the most submissive manner, lifting up his left hand and both eyes to the sun as calling him for a witness. Being almost famished with hunger, he puts his finger frequently to his mouth to signify he wants food. The hurgo (a great lord) understands him well, descends from the stage, and commands that several ladders be applied to Gulliver's sides, on which above a hundred inhabitants mount and walk toward his mouth, laden with baskets of meat sent by the king's orders. Gulliver eats the flesh of several animals—shoulders, legs, and loins shaped like mutton but smaller than the wings of a lark—by two or three at a mouthful, and takes three loaves at a time about the bigness of musket bullets. They sling up one of their largest hogsheads, roll it toward his hand, and beat out the top; he drinks it off at a draught, tasting like a small wine of Burgundy but much more delicious. A second hogshead he drinks in the same manner, and makes signs for more, but they have none to give him. When he has performed these wonders, they shout for joy and dance upon his breast, repeating "Hekinah degul."

Formal Imprisonment and Transport

A person of high rank from the imperial majesty appears, mounts on the small of Gulliver's right leg, advances up to his face with about a dozen of his retinue, and produces his credentials under the signet-royal. He speaks about ten minutes without any signs of anger, but with a kind of determinate resolution, often pointing forward toward the capital city about half a mile distant, whither it has been agreed by his majesty in council that Gulliver must be conveyed. Gulliver answers in few words and makes a sign with his hand that is loose, putting it to the other (but over his excellency's head for fear of hurting him) and then to his own head and body, to signify he desires his liberty. The nobleman shakes his head by way of disapprobation and holds his hand in a posture to show that Gulliver must be carried as a prisoner, though he makes other signs to let him understand he shall have meat and drink enough and very good treatment. Gulliver, feeling the smart of their arrows upon his face and hands, which are all in blisters with many darts still sticking in them, and observing that the number of his enemies increases, gives tokens to let them know they may do with him what they please. The hurgo and his train withdraw with much civility and cheerful countenances. Soon after, a general shout with frequent repetitions of "Peplom selan" is heard, and great numbers of people on his left side relax the cords so that he is able to turn upon his right and get a little ease. Before this, they had daubed his face and both hands with a sort of ointment very pleasant to the smell, which in a few minutes removes all the smart of their arrows. These circumstances, added to the refreshment of their victuals and drink, dispose him to sleep; he sleeps about eight hours, for the physicians, by the emperor's order, had mingled a sleepy potion in the hogsheads of wine.

The Engine and the Journey to the Capital

Upon the first moment Gulliver was discovered sleeping on the ground after his landing, the emperor had early notice of it by an express and determined in council that he should be tied in the manner described (done in the night while he slept), that plenty of meat and drink should be sent to him, and a machine prepared to carry him to the capital city. The Lilliputians are most excellent mathematicians, arrived at great perfection in mechanics by the encouragement of the emperor, a renowned patron of learning. The prince has several machines fixed on wheels for the carriage of trees and other great weights; he often builds his largest men-of-war, some nine feet long, in the woods where the timber grows and has them carried on these engines three or four hundred yards to the sea. Five hundred carpenters and engineers are immediately set to work to prepare the greatest engine they have: a frame of wood raised three inches from the ground, about seven feet long and four wide, moving upon twenty-two wheels. It is brought parallel to Gulliver as he lies. Eighty poles, each of one foot high, are erected, and very strong cords of the bigness of packthread are fastened by hooks to many bandages girt round his neck, hands, body, and legs. Nine hundred of the strongest men are employed to draw up these cords by many pulleys fastened on the poles, and in less than three hours Gulliver is raised and slung into the engine and tied fast. All this is performed while he lies in a profound sleep by the force of the soporiferous medicine. Fifteen hundred of the emperor's largest horses, each about four inches and a half high, are employed to draw him toward the metropolis, half a mile distant. About four hours after the journey begins, Gulliver awakens by a ridiculous accident: the carriage being stopped to adjust something out of order, two or three young natives climb up into the engine, and an officer in the guards puts the sharp end of his half-pike a good way up into Gulliver's left nostril, which tickles his nose like a straw and makes him sneeze violently; they steal off unperceived, and it is three weeks before he knows the cause of his awakening so suddenly. They make a long march the remaining part of the day and rest at night with five hundred guards on each side of him, half with torches and half with bows and arrows, ready to shoot him if he offers to stir. The next morning at sunrise they continue their march and arrive within two hundred yards of the city gates about noon. The emperor and all his court come out to meet them, but his great officers will by no means suffer his majesty to endanger his person by mounting on Gulliver's body.

Confinement in the Temple

At the place where the carriage stops stands an ancient temple, esteemed the largest in the whole kingdom, which, having been polluted some years before by an unnatural murder, is looked upon as profane and has been applied to common use, all ornaments and furniture carried away. In this edifice it is determined Gulliver shall lodge. The great gate, fronting to the north, is about four feet high and almost two feet wide, through which he can easily creep. On each side of the gate is a small window not above six inches from the ground; into that on the left side the king's smith conveys four score and eleven chains, like those that hang to a lady's watch in Europe and almost as large, which are locked to Gulliver's left leg with six-and-thirty padlocks. Over against this temple, on the other side of the great highway at twenty feet distance, there is a turret at least five feet high. Here the emperor ascends with many principal lords of his court to have an opportunity of viewing Gulliver. It is reckoned that above a hundred thousand inhabitants come out of the town upon the same errand, and in spite of his guards, there could not be fewer than ten thousand at several times who mount his body by the help of ladders, though a proclamation is soon issued to forbid it upon pain of death. When the workmen find it impossible for Gulliver to break loose, they cut all the strings that bound him; he rises up with as melancholy a disposition as ever he had in his life. The chains that hold his left leg are about two yards long, giving him not only the liberty of walking backwards and forwards in a semicircle but, being fixed within four inches of the gate, allowing him to creep in and lie at his full length in the temple.